By Erin Lyons

A teacher is recovering in hospital after her Australian cousin flew more than 10,000 miles to give her a kidney.

Paula Rowlett, 32, from St Helens, was diagnosed with kidney failure “by accident” in March 2012 after going to the doctors with a throat infection.

Tests showed she had extremely high blood pressure and she was rushed to hospital.

The St Helens College teacher said: “They can’t confirm what caused the kidney failure but it was high blood pressure that caused the damage, they just weren’t able to repair themselves.

“It was a big shock because at that time I had been boxing three times a week.”

Paula was put on dialysis four times a day, and had a tube inserted into her stomach so she could carry out the process at home.

She was off work for six months and when she went back would do dialysis in between lessons.

When Lynley Everest, 40, who lives in Sydney, heard about her cousin’s illness she did not hesitate to put herself forward as a potential donor.

She said: “A lot of people have said to me when did you decide to start the testing process? The honest answer is it wasn’t a conscious decision like that, it never occurred to me not to be tested.”

Lynley began having tests in November 2013 and a date was set for the surgery in June.

Lynley travelled from Sydney a week before the operation so she could take the Human Tissue Authority test which makes sure a potential donor has not been coerced or paid.

She said the surgery, which took place on Monday last week at the Royal Liverpool hospital, went perfectly and doctors were pleased with the pair’s progress.

Lynley added: “We’re obviously tender and a bit sore, but very happy.”

Paula said: “We keep laughing and saying she’s given me a super kidney because it’s started working really, really well straight away. I think in the space of eight hours it had passed 24 litres which shocked the nurses.”

They have been led through the process by the Royal’s living donor coordinator Jean Shalcross, who has been arranging for overseas donors to come to the hospital for the past 17 years.

Jean said: “Taking donors from America and Australia is slightly easier because they have similar standards of healthcare and many of the assessments can be done there. But if a donor is in India or the Philippines, they have to come here, have all the tests, have the operation and recuperate so we try to get them back home within three months of arriving.”

Paula will leave hospital in the coming days but Lynley has to stay in the UK for at least six weeks until she has recovered enough to travel.